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Friday, March 07, 2008

EC Chairman Sees Red

Election Commission head has felt the backlash of a decision against the use of indelible ink - vandals splashed the outside of his house with bright red paint early this morning.

Kesiannya.

LOL

Abdul Rashid also responded to questions on the reversal of the decision.

Malaysiakini: Weren’t you aware of the law?

Abdul Rashid: We were aware of the legal requirements, but we thought that it wasn’t so bad and that we could overcome it. But (it) looks like we can’t. And on advice of the Attorney-General’s Chambers, we decided to cancel it.

You see, we wanted to use the ink. We really did but the legal restrictions prevented us from carrying out our plans.

What about amending the law?

That is for Parliament to do. Now it is too late as Parliament has been dissolved…

But the proposal to use the ink was accepted last July...

It must be scrapped now.

Could your house have been vandalised because people perceive you as biased and because they feel your tenure should not have been extended?

(In a raised voice) Where is my bias? Tell me, in which way have I been biased?

Take for example the issue of media coverage. Some media are helping the party in power and the people (detractors) are pointing their fingers at us. What can we do? This is not under the legal scope of our duties.

Where we are in charge, we are 100 percent perfect. Where we’re not in charge, don’t point fingers at me.

They think it’s good to threaten me. I don’t think it’s necessary. I should not be treated in this manner. I’ve a job to do and I’ve already given my assurance that this election will be very fair.

There are claims of double voting by armed forces personnel...

They have to show evidence of irregularities. And if they have evidence, file an election petition and let the courts decide. So far, no one has come up with any concrete evidence.

What will you do about the indelible ink already purchased?

We will handle that after the election. The secretariat will know what to do.

Will the ink be used in the next elections?

We have to take care of the law first. But that is a policy matter and it’s up the policy makers. The government is aware of this and we’ll see what happens after the elections.